


Familiar

by CinnamonLily



Series: Just Like Magic [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Derek POV, Gen, M/M, Magic!Stiles, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-16 21:45:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11837652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CinnamonLily/pseuds/CinnamonLily
Summary: It's been two weeks, and Derek is still recovering.





	Familiar

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a vignette. Guess what?  
> Also, I didn't have it betaed, so all the mistakes are mine. Sorry about that.

 

For some reason, when they’d decided to rebuild the Hale House, Peter had wanted to go with white columns in the front, for what he’d called a “suitably grand look” for the joined home of two packs. There wasn’t much in the front yard, just parking space for a lot of vehicles, so Derek had been fine with it; he wouldn’t spend time there anyway. But he’d insisted on having a nice deck in the back of the house, with a view to where Isaac had wanted his vegetable garden and where most of the combat training happened.

Now he sat in one of the wicker chaise loungers in the corner of the deck, wrapped in blankets, and watched goings-on in the yard.

Isaac had a day off from the garden center, so he was tending to his veggies and would inevitably move onto the flowers he’d planted with the women of the pack. He liked everything immaculate, and Derek thought it must’ve called to both his sense of beauty and the need for control.

Derek had been home for two weeks, now. He wasn’t feeling well in any way, yet. Most of the physical stuff had healed, and Braeden had stayed for a week and a half for daily “let’s not call them sessions.” She’d had to leave when the Wyoming bust had happened and the captives from there had needed her.

He didn’t know how to feel about anything, so mostly he just coasted along each day, from the moment he woke up, to the moment he went to bed again.

He hadn’t slept alone since he got back, at least one of the members of his pack always with him during the nights. It helped a lot, even though he could see how tired they all were getting. They had jobs, and sleeping next to someone who woke up several times each night, sometimes screaming or howling…. Yeah, it wasn’t ideal.

He felt grateful, too. Of course he did. He knew he couldn’t ever repay any of his pack for any of this. And Stiles, well…. As if feeling Derek’s gaze, the sorcerer turned his head and looked directly at him. He raised a brow at Derek, then lifted one hand, palm up, and conjured a small ball of teal light. Then he flicked it with his index finger, sending it sailing across the yard to Derek in a slow, almost floating speed.

Derek couldn’t help but to smile when the little orb got to him. He extracted one hand from the blankets and curved his fingers loosely around the light. As soon as his fingers accidentally touched it, it popped, and a couple of fireflies—not real ones, he was pretty sure—flew out, as if they’d been trapped in the bubble. Derek chuckled in a rough voice, smiling at Stiles who looked quite pleased with himself.

Stiles looked around the yard and seemed thoughtful. Then he stripped off his t-shirt and placed his palm on top of his right pectoral, waking up his familiar. It didn’t matter that Derek had seen this before. Having the black raven suddenly extract itself from the tattoo was bound to always made Derek blink in awe.

As soon as the bird sat on Stiles’s arm, the sorcerer petted it with his long fingers, then nodded toward Derek. The all-too-wise raven hopped up, spreading its wings, and flew to Derek.

“You might as well keep each other company,” Stiles called to him. “I was gonna try some stuff without him anyway.”

Derek nodded at him and settled back into his blankets. The bird landed on his feet, then walked surprisingly nimbly up to his lap and curled up there.

“Are you sure you weren’t a cat in a past life?” Derek whispered to it with his broken voice.

The raven—called Darko because of a movie and because it was “punny” somehow—tilted its head to look at him. While the eyes were expressionless and hard to read, the small clucking sound Darko made wasn’t. It was a clear “how dare you” and it made Derek laugh, then cough.

Stiles tossed the shirt he’d taken off aside, and Derek quite enjoyed the view of him continuing whatever it was he was doing. The thin, flaily, all-limbs teenager had somehow morphed into a lithe, muscular man in the past six years. The only thing that reminded Derek of the boy he’d known were the wide shoulders and the beauty marks over his skin.

They’d dated briefly, yes. Hell, they’d even had sex. But it didn’t mean Derek knew Stiles’s body anymore. The myriad of tattoos, some functional like Darko, others pure fun or art, covered a lot of the skin Derek had once known intimately. That was… good, actually.

The thought didn’t surprise Derek. This was his uncle’s mate he was ogling. Even his wolf knew when it was too late, or when things were too different. They would never fit now, mostly, because they didn’t fit back then, either. Not as well as they’d thought anyway.

Stiles called Allison over from where she’d been reading under her favorite tree. Derek couldn’t hear the exchange, but the result was that they pulled some of the gym mats out of the shed they’d built for practice equipment, and placed them to the edge of the yard.

Then Allison stood in front of them, and Stiles kissed her cheek. Then he went back maybe ten, fifteen steps, and cracked his neck. Derek could see Stiles raise a brow at her, and the quick thumbs up she gave him.

Then Stiles flicked his hand, as if shooing something off, and a split second later, Allison flew backwards, ending up on her back on one of the mats. It wasn’t violent, more like a friendly push that went too far, but Stiles tensed. Derek did too, until he heard the delighted giggles.

“That was great, Stiles!” Allison beamed at Stiles who looked relieved. Derek could understand him. “Can you do it harder?”

Stiles said something, and when Derek concentrated hard, he could hear the last of what he said. “…much rather have a wolf for that sort of thing.”

She was nodding, but then took her spot again. “Try farther away, if not harder, then?” she suggested loud enough for Derek to hear.

They weren’t friends, exactly, Allison and he. There was still too much bad blood between the blood running through their veins. She’d come this close to being brainwashed by her aunt and grandfather, and while Derek now trusted Chris with his life, Allison was a bit more complicated than that.

They got along fine, but there was a reason why she hadn’t come to read next to him on the porch, even at the other end of it.

Stiles moved and she gave him another thumbs up. Five seconds later, she flew back again, shrieking with joy. Derek smiled.

Suddenly Erica burst through the door and ran to Allison. “Do me, do me!”

“You wish, Catwoman!” Stiles grinned at her, but let her take Allison’s place. “One at a time, ladies. There’s enough of me for everyone!”

And then it was Erica flying backwards, harder than Allison for sure. They talked among themselves, laughing between tries, and gradually the distance grew from fifteen steps to all the way outside the yard in the trees. Stiles’s magic could still push the girls back from there.

Derek was pretty damn sure Stiles was much more powerful than what he was demonstrating to the girls right then, but frankly he didn’t care. Stiles had saved him. Saved many others. So he wanted to train with the pack some, bringing them joy while doing it? If that meant keeping his powers hidden for everyone’s safety, then so be it.

Besides, there had to be a reason for Stiles’s practice. Maybe it was about not having the familiar with him at the time, like he’d said. Or maybe not. With how Stiles’s mind worked, who the fuck knew.

When they reconvened to talk strategy again, Stiles obviously said something funny, making the girls laugh and Isaac next to his tomatoes chuckled, too. Derek couldn’t hear the words, but smiled anyway. Like the rest of him, his hearing wasn’t back fully, either. It was annoying, but Deaton had promised it would return eventually.

A sound that Derek could only describe as fond came from the back door. Peter stood there, leaning to the frame. It was a testament to Derek’s condition that he hadn’t noticed his alpha before he made noise.

Peter moved to sit in the chair next to him and reached a hand to fluff Derek’s hair affectionately.

“They’re having fun,” Peter stated and moved his hand to stroke Darko’s head with his fingers. “Hello there, Darko.”

The bird preened under the attention.

“Go on,” Derek rasped. “Go to him.” He pushed the bird gently, until it hopped to Peter’s lap and walked up his chest, to sit on his shoulder.

Then it pressed against his head and let out a sound that Derek thought as an affectionate little coo.

Shaking his head, Derek turned his attention back to the training in the back of the yard.

“I have tea brewing. The stuff Deaton gave us,” Peter said quietly, snorting as Erica tried to sneak-attack Stiles and got flung to the mats before she could actually touch the sorcerer.

“Thanks,” Derek murmured.

Deaton’s “stuff” was meant to promote healing, especially of the vocal chords. Besides, it warmed him, so that’d be a plus.

Peter went inside and came back with mugs for them both. Darko never left his shoulder, content to snuggle with his master’s mate.

Peter held the mug for him until they were both sure Derek could handle it. Neither of them commented on the way his hands still shook time to time, or how he couldn’t squeeze the mug handle with just one hand and needed two to hold it.

Erica came back to them, looking radiant as ever. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes sparkled. She looked carefree, and Derek wanted to thank Stiles for that. She hadn’t looked like that in a while now.

“I’m gonna go research some stuff. Stiles wants some new ink,” she announced as she gently petted Darko, then looked at Derek. “Need anything, alpha mine?”

“No, I’m good,” he answered, nodding to his mug.

“Okay, just call me and I’ll be down if you need me!” she left them sitting there.

Soon, Allison wandered in with his book, and Isaac moved onto the flowerbeds just out of Derek’s sight.

The only thing remaining was the sorcerer, conjuring seemingly random things. A ball of light, a bigger ball of light, a translucent bird smaller than Darko, a fox that was see-through as well while it wound around Stiles’s feet like a pleased cat.

With every new thing, some of Stiles’s tattoos lit up. Depending on what he conjured, the location changed. Everything he made was the same shade of teal his eyes shone when he used his magic. It was his signature color, he’d told them.

Suddenly Stiles stilled, closed his eyes, and Darko hopped off Peter’s shoulder and flew to his master. The bird vanished the moment it would’ve collided with Stiles’s chest, melding into the tattoo housing its spirit.

A teal smoke started to gather around Stiles, starting from his ankles. Derek sipped his tea quietly as he watched it crawl upwards. Knees, then hips, chest, shoulders, and finally engulfing all of Stiles inside. It dissipated then, but Stiles was nowhere to be seen.

At least until a cheeky voice said, “Hi, mate,” beside Peter’s chair.

Derek had anticipated something like this, but Peter hadn’t, and he almost tipped his tea over himself as he startled.

“Jesus, Stiles,” he hissed, but the next thing Derek could smell was the primal scent of arousal blooming around his uncle.

“Oh, hell no,” Derek rasped, making Stiles cackle.

“Accio shirt!” Stiles said cheerfully, and his discarded t-shirt flew from across the yard into his waiting hand.

Derek rolled his eyes, and Peter groaned, but the arousal didn’t diminish any.

“Go to your room,” Derek sounded tired, and only half of it was pretend. He needed a nap.

He drank the rest of his tea and held out the mug. Peter grabbed it for him and got up.

“Boyd should be home soon,” he said quietly, and Derek nodded.

Stiles smiled slightly at Derek. “You want me to leave Darko with you until then?”

He shook his head no, and pulled the covers higher around his shoulders.

Napping here was safe. With Stiles’s wards, nobody could come through, and even if someone tried, they had plenty of warning.

He woke up briefly when Boyd plopped down into the chair Peter had vacated. This time, the chair was closer, and Derek smiled at his beta who made sure their shoulders touched. Neither of them spoke, and while Derek closed his eyes, Boyd did, too.

Erica found them half an hour later, carefully climbed onto Boyd’s lap, and curled up there. Someone would wake them up when there was dinner to be had.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I know there will be at least another one of these shorter things, and it will be Boyd's POV. No idea how long it will be, so we'll see.  
> Oh and yeah, I do have more of the Steter in my head with a bigger plot in the background, but you might have to wait a bit for that.
> 
> Thanks for the comments so far, everyone!


End file.
